Process of washing and filling containers with beverage using inert gas



Sept. 29, 1970 BENJAMINS 3,531,299-

PROCESS OF WASHING'AND FILLING CONTAINERS WITH BEVERAGE USING INERT GASFiled May 27, 1968 WASH WATER FZTROGEN GAS fi l-Z 1 25 7 i Mi WKNITROGEN GAS l A INVENTOR WASH WATER I 1O LUCAS BENJAM/NS BY vamkcgwbH18 nrrmwer United States Patent Office 3,531,299 Patented Sept. 29,1970 3,531,299 PROCESS OF WASHING AND FILLING CON- TAINERS WITH BEVERAGEUSING INERT GAS Lucas Benjamins, Clairionlaan 9, Santpoort, NetherlandsContinuation-impart of application Ser. No. 500,154, Oct. 21, 1965. Thisapplication May 27, 1968, Ser. No. 732,400 Claims priority, applicationNetherlands, Jan. 5, 1965, 6500035 Int. Cl. A23b 1/14 US. Cl. 99-189 2Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A process for filling a bottle or canwith a beverage, particularly beer, including the step of washing thecontainer, introducing nitrogen gas into the container simultaneouslywith washing water used in the washing step, and displacing the nitrogenby introducing the beverage into the container.

This application is a continuation-in-part of United States applicationSer. No. 500,154, filed Oct. 21, 1965.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In a known process for filling beverage intocontainers, the air in the container is evacuated and thereafternitrogen gas is introduced into the container. Alternatively, the airmay be flushed out of the container by rinsing out the container withnitrogen gas. These known processes are complicated, and the nitrogengas introduced into the container is easily contaminated by air leftbehind in the container or by air which is drawn into the container bythe nitrogen flow thereinto.

In processes where the container is rinsed with nitrogen to remove theair, a relatively long rinsing time is necessary and a large quantity ofnitrogen gas is required to fill the container with nitrogen with apurity of at least 98%. In this connection, it should be noted that whenthe container is filled with pure nitrogen, any oxygen which may bedissolved in the beverage is withdrawn from the beverage; in contrast,when filling with impure nitrogen, the impure nitrogen gas only preventsair from entering the container during the introduction of the beverage,but does not affect the oxygen dissolved in the beverage. In the knownprocesses, it is not possible to introduce pure nitrogen into thecontainer during the short time interval which exists in the mechanicalbottling processes between the washing of the container and filling withthe beverage.

It is an object of the invention to remove the disadvantages of theknown method for filling bottles or cans with a beverage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there isprovided a process for filling a container with a beverage, whichprocess comprises the steps of washing the container, introducingnitrogen into the container simultaneously with the washing water usedin said washing step, and displacing the nitrogen by introducing thebeverage into the container.

In this manner, the free air present in the bottle is driven out andalso the oxygen dissolved in the washing water is liberated by theinteraction with the nitrogen gas and then driven out so that the bottleafter the washing is filled with nitrogen gas and possibly minuteamounts of wash water with a very low oxygen percentage.

According to another feature of the invention, the bottle is washed withnitrogen immediately preceding the filling. The container is preferablya bottle or can while the beverage is preferably beer. The nitrogen gasmay be introduced into the container in various ways, for example,centrally through a spraying nozzle and surrounded by an annular streamof washing water delivered by the same nozzle. Preferably, the nitrogengas is held, according to a following feature of the invention, at anoverpressure in the bottle or the can, and driven out by the beveragepouring in during the filling. As a result, the oxygen which might bedissolved in the beer is liberated by the interaction between the beerpouring in in a thin film along the bottle wall, according to a knownprocess, and then driven out together with the nitrogen gas.

According to a known process for filling bottles or cans with beverages,the beverage is allowed to flow from a filling container in the fillingmachine to the lowerpositioned bottle or can by gravity.

According to a feature of the invention, only, or substantially only,nitrogen gas is present over the beverage in the filling container. Thebeverage may be pressed from the container by the pressure of thenitrogen gas, so that the beverage neither in the storage containers,nor during the storing up in the bottles or the cans has the opportunityto pick up oxygen. The nitrogen gas driven away during the filling maybe removed in various manners.

According to another feature of the invention, the nitrogen gas isforced from the bottle or the can to be filled to the gas supplycontainer of the filling machine during the filling step.

A bottle filled in accordance with the invention may be closed simply orafter a foam generation in the bottle neck in which latter event thebeer is stored with an extremely low oxygen content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONFIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate apparatus which may be used for theintroduction of wash Water and an inert gas simultaneously into eachbottle or container for the beverage.

' It should be understood that the gas which is to be used must be onewhich contains substantially no free oxygen, and preferably the gas usedis nitrogen. FIG. 1 shows two rows of bottles 1 which are placed upsidedown over respective spraying nozzles 2 of a bottle-washing machineduring the bottle-washing operation. The side view of FIG. 2 furtherillustrates each bottle which has been positioned above a respective oneof the spray nozzles 2.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a spraying nozzle 2 together witha portion of a bottle 1 which is placed upside down above the nozzleduring the washing operation. Each nozzle is provided with a centralopening 11 for introducing nitrogen gas into the bottle 1 from a sourceof nitrogen gas designated by the reference numeral 8. The sprayingnozzle 11 is surrounded by an annular spraying nozzle 9 by means ofwhich the wash Water which is supplied to the nozzle at 10 may besprayed into the interior of the bottle 1.

For the arrangement shown in FIG. 1, the wash water is introduced intothe conduits 4, each of which fits a plurality of nozzles 2. Disposedbetween the conduits 4 is a single conduit 6 which supplies nitrogen gasto both of the rows of spraying nozzles, the nitrogen gas being 3supplied from the conduit 6 to the individual nozzles 2 by means offlexible tubes 7.

During the washing operation, each bottle is thoroughly washed by thewash water entering into the inverted bottle from the nozzle 2, and atthe same time is filled with a quantity of nitrogen gas. Any oxygenremaining in the bottle is substantially entirely removed from thebottle during this process. When the bottle is removed from a positiondirectly above the nozzle, or when the supply of wash water is cut 01?,the Wash water remaining in the bottle runs out by gravity, but thenitrogen stays inside because of its having a lower specific gravitythan the surrounding air. Subsequently, the bottle is inverted to anupright position and filled with the beverage which displaces thenitrogen then occupying the bottle. Preferably, this filling operationtakes place in a nitrogen atmosphere, so that the beverage does not inany way come into contact with oxygen during the filling operation.

The process of this invention is not limited to the filling of;containers such as bottles or cans with beer, but may also be applied tothe filling of containers with other beverages whether or not containingcarbon dioxide and whether or not containing alcohol.

What I claim is:

1. A process for filling a container with a beverage the fillingoperation being carried out in an atmosphere of nitrogen gas to preventcontact of the beverage with oxygen during the filling operation.

2. A process for filling a container with a beverage which comprises thesteps of,

thoroughly washing the container with wash water introduced in the formof an annular stream,

introducing into the container simultaneously with the wash water, andwhile said container is inverted, nitrogen gas, said nitrogen gas beingintroduced as a jet internally of the annular stream of wash water,

and while said container is positioned upright introducing the beverageinto the container to thereby fill the container and concurrentlydisplace the nitrogen gas.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 490,524 1/1893 Werner 99-49 X1,361,498 12/1920 Ruif. 1,608,634 11/1926 Taylor 2179 2,424,049 7/1947Parker et al 99l82 X 2,897,082 7/1959 Kaiser 99-482 X 2,993,246 7/1961Haloski et al. 2179 3,088,831 5/1963 Fauth et al. 99-49 X 2,771,64511/1956 Martin 21-80 2,973,267 2/1961 Keller et a1 99-49 NORMAN YUDKOFF,Primary Examiner F. E. DRUMMOND, Assistant Examiner US. 01. X.R. 2149;99 2s; 134 22; 141-4, 5

